Roaming Roosters boss named Great British Entrepreneur

Lancashire entrepreneur Simon Mellin represented the very best of British as he collected two awards for his retail and wholesale businesses at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards.

A celebration of home grown business talent, the 28-year-old collected accolades for Small Business Entrepreneur and Rural Business Entrepreneur of the Year at the ceremony, held in the prestigious Old Billingsgate, London.

The awards acknowledged Simon, and brother Nick’s successes in their successful sustainable food business Roaming Roosters as well as their year-old wholesale business Grass Roots Wholesale Foods.

The brothers are no stranger to the awards scene, having won some 12 awards since Roaming Roosters opened its retail outlet in September 2012, celebrating the business’ green credentials, family history and sustainable ‘food that makes you feel good ethos’.

And next week, both Simon and Nick will be back in the capital as finalists in the Growing Business Awards.

Simon said: “It’s incredible to think how far we’ve come since packing boxes in the back of our dad’s butchers shop.

“Our big idea for Roaming Roosters came in the midst of an economic slump, when no one wanted to touch two 20-somethings looking for investment.

“But we kept banging on the bank doors and eventually got the breakthrough we needed to make our dream a reality. We’ve worked hard to get here and continue to work hard to this day, but winning awards like this makes it worthwhile and keeps us forging ahead.”

Roaming Roosters has established a quirky, fun brand around the traditions and heritage of farming and butchery. Its application of traditional grass feeding methods coupled with a fun quirky brand proven to appeal to a wide age range and, available to order online, enables the local butcher service to be accessible UK-wide.

Grass Roots too is a unique concept with nobody else in the country white-labelling meat like they do. It is a completely new concept in food manufacturing and one which is opening up a number of doors for the fledgling business.

Technology plays a huge part in the success of Grassroots in particular, and they have recently put a system in place which enables huge growth without huge manpower.

Simon said: “It really is an honour to be recognised among so many fantastic businesses across the UK, and to win two awards was amazing.

“While taking the trophies back to Roaming Roosters creates a real buzz for us, our staff and our customers, equally important is the contacts made on the night. “We’ve already set up meetings to look at working with fellow winners and finalists and it’s great to think that we can work side by side with fellow Great British entrepreneurs for the good of the UK economy.”